A central theme in St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians — and it almost every letter he wrote — is the need for unity. Complete my joy by being of the same mind, with the same love, united in heart, thinking one thing. It is one of the ironies of history that the symbol of unity in the Catholic Church, the bishop of Rome, the Pope, has become a source of division. This was, of course, true during the Protestant Reformation. But today there are divisions right in the Catholic communion because of the teaching authority that the Pope exercises. When Pope John Paul II declared that there would be no women’s ordination it caused division with a certain part of the Church. When Pope Francis decided to severely limit the use of the Tridentine Mass a different part of the Church divided off. St. Paul would not be pleased. He would urge us to find the unity which is more fundamental that any difference in policy.
